The Maryland Association of Community Colleges (MACC), in partnership with Baltimore Cyber Range dba BCR Cyber, has been awarded $935,680 through the Maryland Department of Commerce’s “Build Our Future Grant Pilot Program” to fund the Cybersecurity Workforce Accelerator. This award leverages the $2 million of Congressionally Directed Spending obtained by U.S. Senators Ben Cardin and Chris van Hollen that was allocated for the Accelerator earlier this year in the Federal FY25 Budget as matching funds, bringing the total amount awarded year to date for the Cyber Workforce Accelerator to $2.9 million.
Together, MACC and BCR Cyber developed the Cyber Workforce Accelerator to dramatically expand Maryland workforce development efforts and provide the state’s community colleges with BCR Cyber Series 3000 Cyber Ranges, giving access to advanced experiential training and education technology to train and certify thousands of entry level IT and cyber practitioners. The Cyber Workforce Accelerator will be available to both credit and non-credit students enrolled at Maryland community colleges.
As a function of this effort, a public-private consortium of 35+ cybersecurity companies and government agencies will steer course content development and recruit entry-level employees trained at the community college cyber ranges. Each of these entities have pledged significant leveraged resources to this project.
Manis Canning & Associates is proud to represent BCR Cyber and support them in achieving this revolutionary public-private partnership to help meet Maryland’s cyber workforce needs.
